URUS AND AUROCHS 
in the possession of which it suggests the antelope 
known as the Saiga. 
The American moose is a larger animal than its 
European relative, and it is mainly on this account 
that it has been proposed to separate the two speci- 
fically. In this case the name elk is to be reserved for 
the Norway beast, and moose for the Canadian variety. 
The word moose is a native name and therefore an 
excellent vernacular word to use. It is of the Algonquin 
language and seems to signify “‘ wood eater.” 
There are frequently examples to be seen at the Zoo. 
THE URvuS 
For a good many years past the Zoological Society 
have been in possession of examples of the British wild 
bull: and so satisfactory are the conditions obtaining 
in the cattle sheds at the Zoo, that these animals have 
regularly bred, and the calves reared to maturity. 
The ox is white and should have red ears and a black 
muzzle. Black ears occur; and it is thought that 
white is not the primitive character. Indeed white 
is not as a rule a colour found in Nature though many 
examples can be at once quoted of its occurrence, such 
as the pelican, the bell bird, etc., etc. These animals, 
semi-domestic in the parks of Chillingham, Cadzow, 
and elsewhere, are in all probability the real and 
comparatively unaltered descendants of the primitive 
wild ox of Great Britain and the continent of Europe. 
They appear, however, to be smaller than the original 
and wild Bos primigenius. We know the latter of 
course by its subfossil remains in fens and peat-bogs. It 
seems that in very early times, at any rate in those 
which we call “‘ Neolithic,’ the urus was tamed by 
man and kept for the sake of its milk and beef. Czsar’s 
description of the Gauls would seem to apply to 
Neolithic man in this country ; he no doubt was of those 
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